The Defiant One
by gotmilk
Summary: The repercussions of Tony’s undercover mission in “Chained” are a little more severe than anyone anticipated...
1. Part 1

**Title:** The Defiant One

**Author: **gotmilk

**Rating:** PG-13

**Season:** Two- episode tag for "Chained."

**Summary:** The repercussions of Tony's undercover mission in "Chained" are a little more severe than anyone ever anticipated...

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing belonging to Mr. Bellisario. Please don't sue me, I'm just a penniless college student who is willing to take poor Michael Weatherly off your hands whenever you ask it of me. _::pause::_ Seriously, I'm waiting here. Ask it of me…

**Author's Notes: **I watch an episode sometimes and the plot bunnies come out to frolic. Being the whumper that I am, and realizing that Tony's jacket was completely obscuring his neck in the end (look for yourself), little ideas begin to form. I can't promise this will be good, but I had fun imagining it. Thanks Britt.

* * *

_The Defiant One_  
-Part 1-

* * *

"I really liked him."

"Yeah," Gibbs replied slowly, "I can see that."

The senior agent glanced over at Kate to nod a simple all clear, then turned his attention back to the car. While his tone was laced with distinctive Jethro Gibbs sarcasm, it was also filled with latent concern for his previously MIA agent.

"You okay, DiNozzo?"

"Sure, Boss," Tony mumbled wearily, eyes fixed on his lap.

Even though he knew he should be paying better attention to the ex-marine, Tony found himself intently staring down at the gun resting in his hands. The discharged weapon was covered in blood. Jeffrey's blood.

DiNozzo flexed his right hand slightly and looked at the fingers that had just been tightly clutching the gun's handle. Blood covered fingers that had been used to pull the trigger and end a man's life.

'What the hell just happened?' Tony wondered to himself silently.

One minute Jeffrey White was a meek little nerd with a fixation for antiquities and then… a cold blooded killer? Tony had always prided himself on his ability to dig beneath the surface of a criminal's mind and find out what was really going on. Sometimes his methods were a little different than what Gibbs would have done, but they were just as effective. So then, why hadn't he been able to figure out Jeffrey?

Tony sighed. There had been a moment, albeit brief, as they'd been leaving Lane's cabin that something had felt off about what Jeffrey was telling him. He'd foolishly ignored his instinct and unwisely trusted what his eyes were seeing. Something about Jeffrey had thrown him. He'd seemed so nice and so… geeky. He'd told him some sob story about an abusive father and Tony had eaten out of his hand like a newbie agent.

He'd later revealed his true identity to Jeffrey in the hopes of getting the man a lighter sentence. After all, a nice guy like that was obviously being manipulated by Lane. If Tony had the energy right now he would have laughed aloud. How wrong he had been.

Everything Jeffrey had done, falling into the stream or accidentally crashing the truck, now made him diabolical and calculating. Jeffrey had known from the very beginning that Tony was undercover, or at least had a nagging suspicion he was. Even the most elaborate trickery the NCIS could pull of hadn't been able to phase Jeffrey. The man was one of the most cunning criminal minds Tony had ever met, and an Oscar worthy actor to boot. When he had confronted Jeffrey about Lane's disappeared and finally grasped what was going on, the knowledge of his own stupidity had felt worse than a knife to the throat.

Damn Jeffrey. Damn him for being so ahead of everyone else, damn him for making the NCIS agent befriend him… and damn him for forcing Tony to kill him.

The image of the gun before him wavered and his vision grayed. To his right, Tony heard the backdoor of the car open and he knew that Gibbs was probably taking Jeffrey's pulse just to be sure the man was dead. Tony knew Gibbs would only find a corpse. The thought suddenly left him cold and empty.

Damn Jeffrey. He'd made Tony care about a murderer.

Thinking about it now, DiNozzo would bet his family's fortune on the assumption that Lane had been killed the same way Jeffery planed on murdering him. Lane had appeared to be competent in the mano-a-mano department, probably forcing the smaller Jeffrey to resorted to another method. That of course meant that the gun currently sitting in his lap was most likely Lane's. The labwork would later have to prove that, but Tony was sure Abby would end up telling him that his suspicions were true.

Jeffrey, however, hadn't used the gun to kill his partner that night or Tony would have heard it. He hadn't slept at all while at Lane's cabin, except for the few fleeting moments before he awoke to find Jeffery standing over him. So, save for hitting Lane over the head with a blunt object, the knife would have been the perfect murder weapon. Lane couldn't even scream out as he died.

Tony felt a tiny smile pull on his lips. He remembered staring at the knife in the rearview mirror as Jeffrey had apologized for what he was about to do. As the knife made its decent towards his venerable neck, time slowed, giving Tony an instant to stare at the deadly weapon. Something flashed before his eyes in that moment, but it wasn't his life and all the good and bad things he had done over the last thirty odd years.

It was the image of his mother cooking, using a knife similar to Jeffrey's, methodically cutting across some hapless vegetable. Even though as a child his family had had hired cooks for the house, sometimes his mother had insisted on fixing dinner herself, using recipes from her own mother's collection. As an adult he could still recall memories of her getting meals ready, letting him peel carrots or mix ingredients for her.

He knew it was a completely ridicules image to conjure up at such a life altering moment. But try as he might, he couldn't explain it. He was sure Kate and the others would find it hysterical and he never planned on ever telling them. On the other hand, maybe he'd tell Ducky. He wouldn't be surprised if the ME had a lecture or two about memories up in that huge brain of his. Ducky seemed to know just about everything, why not the psychology of memories?

Tony heard someone say his name and it drew him from his thoughts. Something told him he should look over, but he was too tired to bother. The voice continued to drone on endlessly and he wished it would leave him alone.

Long moments passed, and as the sound continued to bombard him, he realized his chest felt wet. He wondered if he had spilled something on himself, despite the fact that that he didn't remember drinking anything. He contemplated looking down to find the problem, but again the movement seemed to much an effort to make.

He could only stare at the gun as it wavered in and out of his vision. The gun covered in Jeffrey's blood.

"Damn him," DiNozzo mumbled to himself as his vision dimmed. A coldness seemed to wash over him and he sank into it, welcoming the feeling.

It felt good to finally rest after so many days of running.

* * *

Agent Jethro Gibbs crept around the side of the blue vehicle, every instinct honed for the unexpected. He paused before the right backdoor, carefully gripping the handle, and mentally counting to three. With a quick motion of Gibb's hand, the door squeaked open to reveal the blood covered body of Jeffrey White.

Though Gibbs had his gun aimed at White, all his years of experience told him the man sprawled in the seat hadn't survived DiNozzo's shot. To be completely sure he carefully slid his left hand onto the man's neck and waited silently. No pulse. White was dead.

Jethro lowered his weapon, clicked the safety and put it back into its holster. Jeffrey's knife lay in the floorboard and his hand dangled above it, his fingertips just brushing the metal that had earlier ended Lane Danielson's life. It looked liked DiNozzo had taken him out just in time.

The veteran NCIS agent looked up towards the front where Tony sat. The other man had seemed a bit lethargic when he'd talked to him, but Gibbs would take a lethargic agent over a dead one any day. He'd told Kate that DiNozzo wouldn't be his first undercover agent to die, and he was right. Tony has proved once again why he'd been hired at NCIS. Another person could have easily gotten themselves killed in this very same situation. Gibbs didn't even want to fathom McGee going up against a killer like White. But under the jovial exterior, Anthony DiNozzo knew how to take care of himself.

"You see the size of that knife?" Gibbs asked lightly.

He waited for the usual blithe remark from his teammate. What would it be this time? "_Oh, he's obviously compensating for something, Boss." _Or, _"Ehh, Emeril's is way bigger."_

But the response Gibbs was waiting for didn't come. Tony just… sat there, staring down intensely into his lap.

"Yo! DiNozzo!"

When that didn't work, Gibbs narrowed his eyes slightly and came around the vehicle.

"Tony?" he asked with a bit more concern as the other agent refused to acknowledge him.

Behind him, Kate was just making her way towards the car. She had already cuffed the Japanese buyer and handed him over to the cops who had appeared seconds after their own speedy arrival.

"What's going on?" she asked, her pace quickening at the sight of her boss' face.

"He's not responding," Gibbs replied, reaching a hand into the car to gently slap DiNozzio's cheek. Still nothing. The man was awake, but staring fixedly down at the gun.

Something suddenly occurred to Jethro and he began to pull Tony's open flannel jacket away from his neck and chest. Blood.

"Sonofabitch!" Gibbs yelled. "Kate! Call an ambulance! DiNozzo's hurt!"

Kate pulled her cell phone free and began rapidly dialing as Gibbs drew the collar of DiNozzo's jacket further away from the left side of his neck. As he suspected, there was a jagged cut three or four inches down from DiNozzo's ear. It looked like Jeffery had managed to get to Tony before he had been shot. Gibbs couldn't tell how deep the wound was and it didn't look too wide, but it was bleeding profusely nevertheless. Already the top of DiNozzo's tee-shirt under the jacket was stained with blood.

Gibbs cursed himself for not noticing it before. He'd looked at Tony when he'd first opened the car door and the other agent had seemed fine. Because of the high collar on the hunting jacket, the blood and wound and been concealed from view. Tony had seemed a little sluggish but Jethro hadn't expected this.

Pulling a clean handkerchief from his pocket, Gibbs pressed the white cloth to Tony's neck and applied pressure. DiNozzo's sight was still fixed on the gun but his eyelids were slowly drooping closed. He was going into shock.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled, hoping for a response. Usually his gruff call always invoked the younger agent's attention. He thought for a moment he saw Tony's eyes open a bit wider, but soon they were sinking again.

"An ambulance is on the way," Kate called from behind him. "What happened?"

"Oh, looks like White got a piece of DiNozzo before he was shot. Damnit! Why didn't I notice this before?"

Jethro thought he heard DiNozzo say something but the words were said so lightly he could barely make them out. Before he had time to ponder Tony's mumblings, DiNozzo's eyes closed. He would have probably slumped onto the wheel if Gibbs hadn't been pressing so hard on his neck and keeping the injured man pinned against the seat.

"He's unconscious," Gibbs called, again trying to wake Tony up by lightly slapping his face. Nothing was working. "Where the hell is that ambulance, Kate?" He felt for DiNozzo's pulse and found it to be rapidly beating. The younger man was also clammy to the touch and his forehead was soaked in sweat. None of this boded well.

"They said they were a few minutes out," Kate replied. "They're coming."

"Just not fast enough," Gibbs murmured quietly to himself. "Just not damn fast enough."


	2. Part 2

* * *

_The Defiant One_  
-Part 2-

* * *

Jethro Gibbs hated hospitals with a passion, but once again here he was waiting in one. Just… waiting. That's all anyone ever seemed to do in these places. Endless hours of sitting or standing around, having to harass nurses and doctors just to get the most minute details. Hell, how did people find hospital television programs so interesting? These places were only about waiting, paper work and HMOs. And what do you do after all that? More waiting.

Impatiently he looked down at his watch. It had been an hour since the ambulance had brought DiNozzo in and they'd had no word. He'd just gotten off the cell with Abby and she, Ducky, and McGee were on their way to the hospital. Before he'd gotten on the phone Kate had offered to go get a cup of coffee for the both of them and had went in search of the nearest coffee machine or cafeteria.

A nurse suddenly came out of the double doors the paramedics had taken DiNozzo into and Gibbs contemplated asking her about his condition. She quickly disappeared down the hallway before Jethro could get to his feet and open his mouth.

He sighed and sat back down, running a hand over his forehead. He was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home and hit the sack. Sink into oblivion and not move until next Tuesday. He'd had a few hours sleep during the previous night while Kate kept watch, but the effects of his nap were fading. Coffee would keep him going for another few hours though. Where was Kate anyway?

"Special Agent Gibbs?"

Jethro looked up and noticed a tall, brown haired man standing before him. He was clad in a trademark white labcoat and blue scrubs underneath. "DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he stood.

"Agent DiNozzo is going to be fine," the man replied, sticking out a hand. Gibbs shook it.

"I'm Doctor Morris," the newcomer continued. "As you know, Agent DiNozzo suffered a deep gash on his neck. Fortunately for him, the knife missed his vital arteries and his vocal cords as well. We were able to stem the bleeding and suture the wound. The amount of blood Agent DiNozzo lost wasn't extremely severe, but it did cause him to go into a mild state of Hypovolemic shock. Besides the lose of blood, his body is physically exhausted, which didn't help the situation any. Do you know the last time he slept?"

Gibbs shook his head. There was no telling if DiNozzo had gotten any rest his first night out on the lose with Jeffrey, or the second with Lane. If he had a guess, he'd wager that Tony hadn't slept at all, and if he had, for short lengths of time only.

"Well, Agent DiNozzo is currently sedated and being given IV fluids. We did a blood transfusion to replace what he initially lost and are trying to get his BP back up to normal. When he wakes up later tonight we'll see how he's feeling. If there aren't any further complications, he should be able to leave in a day or two I'd say," Morris finished.

"When can we see him?" Gibbs asked.

"He's going to be moved to a private room on the sixth floor in a few minutes. After that, you will be allowed to see him one at a time until visiting hours are over."

"Thank you doctor," Jethro replied. "I'll be sure to tell my team."

The physician walked away, leaving Gibbs alone in the waiting room. The NCIS agent sat down in the chair behind him and nodded to himself. Now it appeared DiNozzo really wouldn't be his first causality. He hadn't wanted to really believe that Tony was going to die… but there had been a brief moment before the ambulance had come that he had begun to really feel the twangs of worry take hold.

Gibbs shouldn't really be surprised that DiNozzo had pulled through it all so well. The younger man probably just wanted to survive so he could find new and endless ways to irritate him.

He felt a small smile pull on the corners of his mouth as a voice called his name. Jethro turned to see Kate striding towards him, two blessed styrofoam cups of coffee in her hands.

"Ah," he murmured, grasping the hot beverage. He took a drink and let the warm liquid slide down his throat. "Thanks, Kate."

"Was that Tony's doctor?" she asked, taking her own tentative sip.

As Gibbs filled her in on what Morris had said her face seemed to soften.

"That's good news," she respond contentedly. "Now I don't have to feel bad for hurting him over that Shih-Tzu remark."

"Now, now Agent Todd, give him a week at least to recover." Gibbs smiled. "Then he's all yours."

She grinned and asked, "Have you called the others?"

"On their way."

Kate took another drink and found an open chair. "So then, I guess we wait," she said, picking up a nearby style magazine.

Jethro scowled a bit and sat down next to her. Of course they managed to find the only waiting room without a television set. He grabbed a magazine as well off the table and inwardly groaned. The worst part about waiting? No decent entertainment. Would it kill a hospital to get reasonable reading material? All they ever seemed to carry was a collection of ten-year-old _Highlights _for kids and gaudy entertainment magazines.

In defeat, he idly flipped through an old _US Weekly _and silently pondered what a "Bennifer" was.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Heidi Klum was running along the beach, her blonde hair flowing freely in the wind and her bikini barely managing to cover every curve of her luscious, toned body. She turned back towards him and smiled with flawless white teeth, motioning him forward. He took a step towards her and felt his fingers brush hers and then…

He woke up.

Anthony groaned as his consciousness slowly returned and he found himself staring up at a ceiling he didn't recognize. His body felt strangely sore and there was something wrapped around his throat. He carefully lifted a hand towards his neck, but felt a sudden pain in the raised appendage. He was surprised to see something sticking into the back, covered by a strip of tape that pulled at the tiny hairs on his hand. It almost looked like… an IV needle.

Well, this was interesting.

Tony blinked a few times, clearing the gunk out of his eyes. There was an IV in his arm, the air had the distinct odor of antiseptics to it, and he was pretty sure the happy emotions he was feeling was purely drugged induced. Hospital. Damn, what had he done now to end up here?

"Welcome back DiNozzo."

Tony was startled to hear his name and turned his head slowly towards the right, winching at the tightness it caused on his throat.

Gibbs was sitting in a chair near his bed, a TV remote in his lap. The older man lifted the device and turned off the muted television that hung on the ceiling. The room darkened a moment before he switched on a small light attached to Tony's bed.

DiNozzo winced at the brightness, but his eyes quickly adjusted. "Boss? What uh… I'm a bit…"

Gibbs leaned forward. "You were injured by Jeffrey White, remember?"

The events of the past two days came rushing back to the ex-homicide detective like an out of control wave. Jeffrey White. Antiquities. Prison bus. Escape. Lane. The cabin. Jeffrey had a knife. Jeffrey was… dead.

"Yeah," he murmured bitterly, "it's all coming back, Boss." He gently touched his throat with the IVless hand and felt the bandage encircling it. "I was hurt?"

"Jeffrey wounded you before you shot him," Gibbs answered. "You lost some blood and went into shock. The doctor said your body was physically exhausted too. You slept at all in the past two days?"

Tony tried to recollect the last time he'd gotten more than a few hours of rest. "Uh… I don't think so," he finally replied. "The first night I couldn't sleep, and the second I spent trying to make sure Lane wasn't going to come in during the night and uh… well, you know. I maybe shut my eyes for ten minutes that morning before Jeffrey woke me up."

Gibbs nodded to himself. "I thought so."

"Boss, the Iraqi antiquities. Are they safe?"

"Yeah, they're being returned as we speak. You did good DiNozzo."

Tony laughed and sat up a bit. "Yeah, was this before or after I went gallivanting about with a psycho and didn't realize it? What about the part where I let him crash the truck? Or is it good that I killed him, Gibbs? One less annoying nerd in the world."

The other agent narrowed his eyes. "No, you got out alive. You left us clues, you stopped cold blooded, murdering thieves from getting away. That's _why _you did good, Tony."

DiNozzo looked away and closed his eyes. "I killed him, Gibbs. I spend hours just talking to him, getting to know him. I told him we were like the two characters from _The Defiant Ones_, chained together for a reason. God, I…" He paused and took a breath. "I thought we were friends. He trusted me, all the way to the end. He had suspicions but… he still wanted to trust me. And I killed him, Boss."

Gibbs was a bit startled from DiNozzo's reaction. "Look at me," he insisted, but the younger man didn't move.

"_DiNozzo_!" Gibbs barked a little louder and his teammate finally glanced over.

"He put a _knife _to your throat, Tony. Friend or not, he was going to _kill _you and you know it. He was going to drag that damn thing across your throat and sit calmly as you died in the front seat of that car. You _did _the right thing. You stopped a murderer DiNozzo. While you were on the run with him, we discovered four other deaths tied to Jeffrey White, including Lane Danielson. All with cut throats. Who knows how many else."

Anthony felt this stomach tighten. Three people besides Lane? Jeffrey had killed others? His eyes intently studied the IV in the back of his hand. How hadn't he sensed any of it? He was so used to staring down killers, but he'd been with Jeffrey for days and never seen a glimmer of true malice in the other man's eyes. Four other people, slain by the quick swipe of a knife. He sighed heavily.

"You okay?"

After a silent pause, Tony finally looked over at the man sitting next to his bed. "No," he answer honestly. He was so sick of always acting like the cheery one in front of the others. Sometimes it just felt good to be Tony, not the one everyone else expected. He didn't feel okay.

Gibbs looked at him a moment, aberrant concern in his blue eyes, but his voice was sure and steady. "You will be, DiNozzo."

Tony wasn't sure what to say. Gibbs seemed so confident that he'd done the right thing and was so sure that he would also be okay. If Gibbs believed it… there had to be truth in it somewhere, didn't there? "I hope so," he eventually replied. "Thanks, Boss, for what it's worth."

"I do my best," the senior agent respond.

Tony felt a yawn forming and tried to stop it, though rather unsuccessfully. He smiled lopsidedly. "Guess I still need to catch up on some sleep. What time is it anyway?"

Gibbs peered at his watch. "Quarter till midnight."

"Midnight?" Tony asked, startled by the hour. "What are you still doing here?"

"I sent the others home at eleven and told them I'd hang around."

"Yeah, but it's got to be way past visiting hours. How'd you get to stay?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I told the night nurse that you had vital information about the case that I needed the moment you woke up. There just wouldn't be time for her to call me and have me drive back."

Tony looked a bit perplexed. "Uh, I don't have any information that you didn't know already, Gibbs."

"The nurse doesn't know that, does she?"

Tony chuckled lightly, leaning back into his pillows. "Sneaky, Boss. Very sneaky." He yawned again and felt his eyes lower a bit. "When can I go home?"

"The doctor said in a day or two. He wanted to monitor you a little more before letting you go. Get some sleep Tony."

Anthony resisted his drooping eyes and glanced over at Gibbs. "You don't have to stay you know."

"I know."

The corner of Tony's month curved slightly but he didn't say anything else as he made himself comfortable. He was just about to drift off when he heard Gibbs speak.

Not bothering to open his eyes, he mumbled, "You say something, Boss?"

Gibbs patted his arm. "Yeah, I just asked you to say hello to Heidi for me. And tell her to put on some sunscreen would you? With that little blue bikini on, the sun cannot be good for her skin."

Tony groaned loudly into his pillow.

Next to him, NCIS Special Agent Jethro Gibbs just smiled.

"'Night DiNozzo."

* * *

-El Fin-

* * *

So, that's it. Did it suck as much as I think it did? lol Please leave a review, 'cause that's the only way I'll know.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed already. You guys are so nice (and some a bit sadistic towards Tony ::evil grin::). Even if I think the first part was kinda bad, I felt better after reading those reviews. I've been tweaking Part 1 and have been reposting new bits. Maybe someday I'll get it where I want it to be. I do like Part 2 better, however. Thanks again! And as Eyes Only would say: Peace Out.

Viva NCIS!


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